HOME REPORTING FOR THE NUCLEAR CLINICIAN

The computer-based 'home office' is becoming a widely accepted mode of operation for modern businesses. It is implausible to believe that a nuclear medicine department can be covered permanently at a distance b y a single physician, but it should be possible to provide cover for c olleagues during sickness or at night or weekends. We have used a 486 PC with a high-resolution screen and software provided by LINK Medical Ltd to obtain images from hospital sites using a modem link to ADAC, Bartec and Nuclear Diagnostic SUN workstations. The data were transfer red via standard telephone lines to the homes of two of the authors. D uring a trial period lasting several months, 60 lung scans, 20 bone sc ans, 1 gastrointestinal bleeding study, 4 leukocyte scans, 5 bone tomo grams, 9 renograms, 6 myocardial perfusion tomograms and 2 gated cardi ac studies were transferred. The system allowed transfer of a 128 x 12 8 eight-view lung scan to be completed in approximately 2 min. The pro gram on the PC allowed alteration of individual image contrast, image rotation, cine display and a variety of colour scales to enhance image interpretation. A system to transfer chest X-rays has been developed and typical transfer times are approximately 3.5 min. Within the viewi ng protocol on the PC, a reporting window was available with the abili ty to fax the report directly to the hospital. This system allowed con sultants who live at a distance from their nuclear medicine department s to provide cover and is now used as an integral part of our out-of-h ours service. The system also allows cover of satellite units or to pr ovide cover for junior staff at night or weekends.